No New Crazy

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

     Can we be frank and earnest with each other for a minute? Yes, the world has gone crazy. Yes, it’s a scary, turbulent, unruly place…

…but that’s not a new development.

    The insanity predates the shootings last week in Buffalo, New York and Irvine, California. The turbulence is older than Tuesday’s news out of Uvalde, Texas. For each and every person who lost someone they love in those awful events, the shock of the world’s depravity and violence must be horribly fresh and totally overwhelming. If you haven’t prayed for all of these precious souls yet, please stop what you’re doing and pray now. But the fact is, the world went crazy a long time ago.

     When Cain slew his brother Abel, the human race consisted of four persons: these two brothers and their parents, Adam and Eve. Twenty-five percent of the world’s population died at the hand of one. Is that crazy, or what? And it’s not just the math that makes it so thoroughly insane – the very idea of one image-bearer of God murdering another must have shocked the whole universe. Why didn’t the North and South Poles switch places? Why didn’t the planet begin to spin backward? Either of those events would have been less crazy than what had just happened. And to add insult to insanity, it kept on happening.

     Cain became a murderer because he was jealous of his brother. Each brother had brought an offering to the Lord – And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell (Genesis 4:4-5). Cain had options at that point; he didn’t have to become a murderer. He could’ve asked the Lord what kind of offering was acceptable. He could then have brought an acceptable offering. Here was a pivotal moment – perhaps the angels held their breath. We don’t know for sure whether Cain even considered his options; we only know what happened. In great anger and with a fallen countenance he plotted his brother’s demise, and carried it out. The earth became a place it had not been before.

     Nearly three thousand years ago a songwriter named Asaph, breathing in the words God breathed out, wrote, the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence (Psalm 74:20).

     No kidding. And remember: darkness ensues at precisely the rate light ceases to shine. Dark places happen, quite literally, at the speed of light. Ever since that awful day in a field somewhere outside of Eden, it can truly be said that no place on our planet is exempt from the possibility of violence. Now, the world’s population is fast approaching eight billion – as it relates to undoing the craziness loose in the world, there are basically two ways of engaging that figure. On the one hand, we could say there’s no way to lasso the potential violence of that many humans. On the other hand, we could say, “Gotta start somewhere.” If we choose the second option, the key is to figure out where to start. I have a few suggestions. Your job, Church, is to ask the Lord whether my suggestions are worth hearing, and if so, what your particular part would be in rolling them out.

     One is to pray for civic leaders, from council members and trustees through presidents and prime ministers. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Timothy 2:1-4). This is the top-down method. Within this scriptural mandate, there’s a more specific prayer I often pray: for the Holy Spirit to well up in every believer who’s involved in government. Imagine a Spirit-led believer in a position of civic authority – wow.

     Another is to pray for gentleness within ourselves that becomes evident to others. Let your gentleness be evident to all; the Lord is near (Philippians 4:5, NIV’84).  This is the inside-out method. Another Bible version gives “reasonableness” for “gentleness.” Every single one of us has a choice, just like Cain had, to bring what’s gentle and reasonable – or conversely, what’s violent and unreasonable – into the situations and lives we touch.

     The third suggestion… Wait. This is where we have to be the most frank and earnest with each other, Church. I want you to make a list of every man you know who has a son under the age of about 25, and pray diligently for those dads, that they can raise their sons to be responsible, caring adult males – in society, in marriage, in fatherhood, and in every life role they may find themselves in. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:5-7). This is the bottom-up method. What son is there whom his human father does not discipline? Apparently, there are many, or else we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in. A male child needs somebody to jerk a knot in his tail every once in a while. Every boy needs to be taught – and shown a constructive example – of what to do and what not to do with his voice, his hands, his sex organ… and yes, his trigger finger. Whether it’s gun violence, domestic violence, or a shouting match in the workplace or on a playground, males need to be compelled, when “sin is crouching at the door” (Genesis 4:7), to turn to the Lord, and “rule over” that sin – which is exactly what Cain did not do.

     You could say to me that it’s not just men who are violent, and you’d be correct. But if you take time to fact-check the events of the past week-and-a-half, or the past century-and-a-half for that matter, isn’t the term “gunman” – as distinct from “gun-woman” or “gun-person” – sickeningly accurate? There is a special responsibility, given by divine authority, for men to curb violence, to nip it in the bud at every level. There is a special responsibility, given by divine authority, for dads to teach their sons to turn in humility to the Lord our God. It started with the very first dad, who failed, and appeared in the very first son, who had been set up for failure.

     Shortly after the first man sinned, God showed up in the Garden. (A)nd the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-9). The Lord God called to the man. The Hebrew for “you” is singular here, not plural. This was Adam’s chance to say something like, “Here I am. I messed up. Please fix me.” He didn’t. In the next generation, in the firstborn of that generation, who was a son, the same opportunity presented itself – “sin is crouching at the door,” (the Lord God said to Cain), “Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (4:7). Would God have instructed Cain to do something impossible? Of course not. But without a better example, he fell into his father’s pattern. Five generations later, Cain’s direct descendant Lamech became the next murderer on record (and for what it’s worth, the first polygamist as well). And on it goes.

     As you might have guessed by now, I’m challenging you to employ all three methods of prayer: the top-down, the inside-out, and the bottom-up. As you might further have guessed, I’m presenting the third one as the most urgent. Given the track record of the human race, we must be way behind the curve in recognizing the need to pray pointedly and fervently for dads and sons. The best benefits may be far off – years or even generations – but the progress, when it comes, will be the most measurable.

     Yes, please, let your heart ache for the families and friends of the victims in Buffalo and Irvine and Uvalde. Let your heart ache for the families and friends of the victims in Sandy Hook and Charleston and Denver and Dayton. Let your prayers for them be filled with much anguish – How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever (Psalm 74:10, 19). Let your heart ache, also, for men who have the terrible, awesome responsibility of raising sons. Some of them don’t even know it. Some know it, but have no better example than Cain had. Some of them know it and want to do their level best, but need our prayers and encouragement to turn to the Lord for every critical nugget of wisdom and fortitude. Let the tally of victims go into decline because Christians are lifting up dads in prayer.

     Having scrolled to the end of this letter, I thank you for sticking with me so long. There’s much work to do. If a paragraph or even a single line or word of this letter has compelled us in any way, I hope it’s to do the diligent work of prayer, and to put legs to those prayers wherever the Lord allows. There is no new crazy suddenly under the sun. The bane of violence has caroused our planet ever since the first dad failed the first son. Pray to push it back.

  

Grace and Peace (and a special measure for dads),

 

John